January Event: Fade to Black

[lifeaftr_mods]

JANUARY EVENT: FADE TO BLACK

Those who have spoken with Balance may be aware that the avatar is in extreme distress, given the absolute imbalance of their land. You may also be aware that they're more than willing to take action to resolve it. And in order to do so, they're going to need some help. Your help, actually. Any willingness to help is appreciated. In fact, anyone's conversations with the avatar of Monsun may have been taken as a blanket agreement from all adventurers for the events about to unfold…

In other words, you can't really blame them for what's about to unfold, can you?

Darker: You're Ruled by All the Things You Fear

By January 21st, adventurers may notice their friends are acting a little…off. Rather outspoken, in fact, about their vices, their negative opinions, their secrets…particularly when the voiced grievances relate to whomever they are currently speaking. Characters prone to or capable of violence may act on those instincts and urges more readily. Theft, arson, and apathy run rampant. Really, it's almost like no one is acting as themselves, anymore.

That might be due to them not being the person you know, though they'll stubbornly insist that they are. Their shadow, to be more precise.

Their true self. Those familiar with Persona and the more traditional sort of Shadow Event will have an inkling as to what comes next. From January 21st to January 23rd, characters' Shadows may be found anywhere currently accessible within LifeAftr - speaking the ugly truth, committing crimes, and ultimately seeking out a confrontation with their original. They will insist on being accepted for what they are: a brutal, bitterly honest recreation of a character's worst flaws, darkest fears, and deepest secrets. And, if they are denied, are happy to self-destruct with cruel finality - an action that will surely take their original down with them.

These facets of the self are practically identical to the person whose flaws they personify. The only exception is the animal shine of their eyes when exposed to focused beams of light.

Whether accepted or not, these Shadows will disappear from the archipelago by midnight on January 23rd - though, unfortunately for our adventurers, these mischievous spirits will not be the only ones dropping in for a visit.

Yet Darker: Can You Feel the Way Your Face Distorts

Having a heavy case of déjà vu?

If your character has already survived a similar scenario, if you yourself have experienced it several times before, or if you're not quite ready to expose some of your character's worst secrets, we have an optional alternative for this section of the event, for those who'd prefer not to opt out of a Shadow entirely.

As with many of our hardworking higher beings, Balance will be doing their best to create the desired effect and, as a result, inspire balance within characters. There is, however, a slight hitch to said plan. With the intended effect being projected across LifeAftr, to say that Balance is desperately pushing their limits is an understatement. Under such conditions, errors are likely…almost guaranteed.

As the Shadows converge upon the archipelago, some Shadows won’t be- precisely as intended. In some cases, Shadows won’t so much convey the bad so much as they themselves are- bad. There's edgy, and there's too edgy. Stubborn and tryhard. Character flaws and tropes that skim the line between realistic and...being features that, say, certain subsets of fans like a little too much. These, er, "shadows" will be appearing at the same time as their far deadlier counterparts, meaning that some characters may find their shadows are competing for the dubious title of "Can Make Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way Jealous" which…we suppose is an achievement. We suppose.

Unlike the more traditional Shadows, these unfortunate duds are rather harmless, about as capable of causing harm as they are in fighting their way out of a wet paper bag. Ignore them, if you like - or do away with them! It's doubtful they'll be missed.

Brighter: Bless My Darkness...Bless My Light

Following these potentially lethal (and lethally embarrassing) visitors, adventurers can be thankful for the small lull in activity come January 23rd. But alas, this respite won't last forever. After all, what's better than one doppelgänger?

Two, of course. The Shadows were intent on expressing the worst of what adventurers have to hide. But, because this is an effort made to establish balance, you can't have one without the other. And so this next expression of self takes things in the...opposite direction. You grappled with your Shadow, and now must contend with its very antithesis - your Light. From January 25th to January 28th, the islands will once again be doubly populated, as your second selves flood their shores anew. These doubles are far more approachable, and readily open about the fact that they represent only facets of a person, and not their entire self. But these Lights have plenty to convey nonetheless, ready to expose their original's best qualities and share a few of those softer sentiments with loved ones who may not have heard such affections voiced. Their true goal is to confront their real self, but Lights are unlikely to attempt this alone. Your friends are their power, and they'll collect as many as need be to back them up in what must be the first, and only, confrontation.

For rejecting your Light comes with much harsher consequences than failing to come to terms with your Shadow.

Rejection Rooms: The Real Face of All Your Enemies

Characters intent on rejecting their Light will find themselves irrevocably drawn to Monsun's shores. They might not even be aware of it - driven by their rage, their paranoia, their fear, or all of the above, and more. Monsun, for its part, is happy to receive them. Its landscape has become so warped over time...and those parts of Monsun consumed by shadow will start to distort, molding into structures that such characters are only too happy to hide within: Rejection Rooms. Rejection Rooms are similar to the Mind Palaces seen in Persona 5, wherein afflicted characters change the appearance of the room with metaphorical interpretations of their shaken psyche. For example: for a character bound by duty or the expectations of others, chains may be a common theme. Paranoia may exhibit itself with seemingly cute and soft objects that in actuality contain deadly sharp surfaces, or burn the hand that touches them.

In contrast to Mind Palaces, however, a Rejection Room does not contain several levels of twisted labyrinth to struggle through. They are, after all, just a singular room. Some will be large and wide, some will be narrow but impossibly high, and so on. A single room hardly constitutes for a labyrinth, most would agree - but it does make for a rather fetching boss room. And the boss?

Why, that's you, of course.

Characters driven to their Rejection Room will be capable of exhibiting additional strength and powers that may be approved from currently nerfed abilities, or created solely for this battle. And they're not inclined to listen to reason, either; instead, it's up to their fellow adventurers to beat some sense into their rattled noggins. Those who challenge the Rejection Rooms need not worry about death for themselves - damage taken within the rooms will simply translate to exhaustion outside of it, with seemingly mortal wounds leading to expulsion from the room itself, and an inability to re-enter.

The same holds true for the boss of each Room. Failure to beat them into expulsion means that the Room will continue to feed from their wildly catastrophizing mind, until there's nothing left to save at all.

Opting into creation of a Rejection Room will require completing the form down below. Keep in mind that players will be restricted to opting in one character only. As we may need to cut off the opt-in process dependant on interest, please note your interest as soon as possible. You are welcome to continue editing your opt in over the coming days as you flesh out the details. We also heavily encourage ensuring others are happy to plot out an intervention with your Rejection Room, as failure to save characters will result in a guaranteed death for the character influenced by the room itself.

Please extend a warm thank you to Coco, player of Ann Takamaki (ladytakamaki) and Acxa (sideswitch), for the suggestion and logistics involved in this part of the event!

Odds and Ends: Can You Stomach It Anymore

By January 28th, both the Lights and the Rejection Rooms will disperse. Monsun will be restored to its relatively clear self - no longer struggling with and overlap of shadowscapes and the patterns of Ziziphus's vines. Of course, all its usual effects will remain...and on the western side at least, more than a few spots of Ziziphus's meadowland and trees may remain. Almost like a memento. Please also note that should your character perish in this event, you should submit to our Deaths page accordingly. Balance, however, will be grateful for your aid in restoring their island to its more evened-out self, and will be lending the Storyteller some aid in bringing back those who perish. Thus, death penalties will be reduced for this event.

So take care.

Event Timeline

[ ♆ ] January 10th: Monsun reappears, and is accessible via mana pool.
[ ♆ ] January 20th: The monthly Storytelling occurs.
[ ♆ ] January 21st: Shadows of both initial variants appear.
[ ♆ ] January 23rd: Shadows of both initial variants disappear.
[ ♆ ] January 25th Lights and Rejection Rooms appear.
[ ♆ ] January 28th: Lights and Rejection Rooms dissipate. Those still trapped in their Rejection Rooms by the event's end will suffer a character death.

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS

[lifeaftr_mods]

[hyperlit]

SO...are shadows/lights capable of things that the real thing would not be, typically.

Basically I want to know if the Drifter's Shadow or Light can talk :>

[crosslaced]

To clarify, are the Shadows 1-1 representations of a character's flaws (including any limits they may have in place), or are they more geared towards causing havoc? For example, Laurent would kill a man but not without provocation. Would Shadow!Laurent care about normal Laurent's moral baselines?

[want_to_belong]

So the shadows have all the memories and everything of the real one?

[hellawrath]

Howww variable may the shadow's appearance be from the real self? Can it be a form that they do have in canon but don't currently have on the island? As in, can Lup's shadow be her lich form? Obviously not with powers above what real Lup is capable of in game, though.

[deathfindsaway]

actually i have one also

can shadows/lights interact with or even kill one another? I'm particularly interested in if shadows can interact/the limits of that interaction! thank youu

Re: QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS

[suspecteverything]

Would the shadows have instant memory of what is happening to their originals during the event?

For example, if someone does something to Jules during the event, would Jules' shadow know about it?

[savedbyasong]

Hi just a couple of questions sorry.

If a character dies during this event are they brought back during the event? So for example if a shadow killed a character on the 22nd will that character return on the 23rd or will they remain dead until after the event?

Second question (and if the answer to the first is they stay dead then ignore this question!) I read that if a character dies their shadow disappears. When that character is alive again does their shadow return (providing its still the shadow part of the event) or do they remain gone even if the character returns? Also if a character died to a shadow provided they return would their light still appear?

Thank you and hopefully this makes sense.

VERY LATE BUT

[cacoethes_mori]

Can Shadows die?

Alternatively, can Shadows sustain life-ending injuries and NOT die?

These are actually different questions but I need the answer to at least one of them because Shadow Foster exists.

REJECTION ROOM OPT-IN

[lifeaftr_mods]

Player Name:
Character Name/Journal:
Room Overview: To give us (and you!) an idea of what your Rejection Room conveys. What size is the room? What objects or elements can be found, and what do they represent? Is there anything that others can interact with? Can objects damage characters, or be used in the fight?
Desired Boss Moves: This is your opportunity to be a little OP. Describe up to five moves your character could have in their room. As we encourage moves that suit the nature of your character or the Rejection Room's theme, powers such as flight, teleportation, summoning projectiles or weaker enemies, and other varieties of magic will likely get the green light. Healing moves should be limited in use to allow others the chance of defeating your boss! Additionally, keep in mind that all moves should have the opportunity within for characters to partially or completely dodge an attack.

<b>Player Name:</b> <b>Character Name/Journal:</b> <b>Room Overview:</b> List your ideal room here! <b>Desired Boss Moves:</b> List as many as you like here!

EXAMPLE ONLY

[lifeaftr_mods]

Player Name: Our Most Beautiful Bird
Character Name/Journal: Chara (achievementhunter)
Room Overview:

Chara's room is almost cathedral-like; awash with a golden light, the high ceilings and walls are decorated with long, stained-glass windows. Each bears an identical depiction of a strange symbol. Marble pillars are almost randomly dispersed about the room- hiding in their shadows will make characters invulnerable to attack.

Crowds of monsters fill the edges of the room, constantly reaching for Chara with grasping hands and expressions that vary between reverence, grief, anger, and terror. Coming into contact with these monsters deals 3HP damage (explanation below), but they will always reach for wherever Chara currently is, giving a slight advantage for sharp-eyed characters.

Desired Boss Moves:

-Not Above Consequences: At the beginning of the battle, Chara summons the SOUL of every person participating in the battle. Any damage taken will be accrued by this SOUL, with all characters starting with 99HP. Consequentially, all Chara's attacks and environmental elements cause an exact amount of damage.

-How Do You Like My Knife Knife Knife Sword: Chara summons a ring of red knives that shoot outwards from their position; being hit by one takes 9HP.

-Who Am I: Chara splits into three exact copies- two fake, one real. Attacking the fakes will cause them to disappear, but also result in 18HP damage. If characters hit the real Chara, however, both copies disappear, and Chara takes the resulting 18HP damage.

-ERASE This Pointless World: Up to three times during the FIGHT, Chara can ERASE a section of the environment, up to 10ft in diameter. This black void can still be walked upon, but causes 9HP damage on initial contact and 9HP damage for every 30 seconds of continued contact after. This void cannot spread into the shadows of columns.

-LOAD SAVE POINT 1: In traditional FIGHT etiquette, Chara will only attack once, before allowing rescuers to take their own turn. Attempts to interrupt or attack during Chara's turn will LOAD characters back to the positions they were in prior to the interruption. Causing a LOAD twice in a row will cause the entire party to take 9HP damage, and Chara will attack before another opportunity can be taken.

On the plus side, this does mean during the rescuer's turn, Chara will only dodge, so that's nice!

[scourgingstars]

Player Name: Nao
Character Name/Journal: Ardyn Izunia | scourgingstars
Room Overview:

A destroyed throne room; the sky past the broken wall is without stars or moon, the only outside light a sickly glow from a mostly blacked-out sky. Indistinct human-shaped shadows line the walls at floor-level, standing at attention like a royal council in silent witness to a coronation. If one gets a chance to see outside, there is a massive city spread out far below...but with no lights or sign of life, scattered rubble and smoldering fires littering the destroyed streets.

The crystal chained above the throne glows constantly, and if in Scourge of the Stars mode Ardyn refuses to approach that side of the room due to the light, making nearer the throne a safer area from which to strategize or attack.

Desired Boss Moves:

Armiger - At the start of battle, Ardyn summons thirteen phantom weapons. However, of these he uses only four: Blade of the Mystic, Sword of the Wise, Bow of the Clever, or the detachable twin blades of the Sword of the Wanderer. He is only able to utilize one at any given time, and takes a few unguarded seconds to switch between them. Armiger must be active to utilize Apocalypsis Ardere, and can not be active in order to use World of Ruin.

Warp-Strike - Ardyn throws a weapon and teleports in a straight line and visible trail of red light to attempt a single-target attack with the weapon that was used to initiate warping. As the trail telegraphs where he's going, it's easily avoided or intercepted by moving aside/blocking.

Apocalypsis Ardere - Dismissing whatever weapon he holds, Ardyn's phantom swords realign themselves into a horizontal cyclical formation, all thirteen acting as wildly fired projectiles over a wide area of effect. The attack is inaccurate as it relies on numbers over finsse, and Ardyn himself is completely unguarded for the duration and following time it takes to realign the Armiger. Inflicts light-elemental physical damage.

Scourge of the Stars - If pushed far enough, Ardyn has a chance to completely dismiss his Armiger and weaponry, moving into a second phase by showing his true face. He fights unarmed at this point, commanding projectile shadows from his hands. Most of his combat skill and accuracy is lost in the process, exchanged for brute strength with far more openings and vulnerabilities. In this form he is also weakened by bright light sources as well as taking double damage from light-elemental abilities and anti-daemon weapons. Changing phases can be interrupted/postponed, as losing the Armiger leaves him without a defense for the time it takes to switch. No cutscene invincibility here, folks.

World of Ruin - Gathering dark magic similar to his projectiles, Ardyn unleashes an area of effect blast centralized around himself and reaching about a five foot radius. While the initial charge time is short, it is possible to interrupt. After the impact itself he is left completely unable to attack for a short time. It can also be blocked, leaving an even longer window for a counterattack. Inflicts dark-elemental physical damage.

CW undeath/body horror, mind control mushrooms, medical trauma

[cacoethes_mori]

Player Name: Raile
Character Name/Journal: Foster van Denend cacoethes_mori
Room Overview: Welcome to Escher's hospital room--the distortion is reflective of Foster's actual brainmeat, a spatial misalignment chamber made of shifting splinter fragments. Various pieces of a nurse's station, surgery, ICU, MRI chamber, and so on are all present. There's a static hospital bed with a copy of Foster in it, but he's nonresponsive. All objects in the room are physically real, from the MRI readouts to the IV poles. The walls indicate this may be a children's hospital--most of them are various pastels, pinks and blues and yellows and greens. There are no windows. The most useful object in the room are the syringes are full of radioactive green liquid known as Reagent, and those will actually buff you if you're reckless enough to inject yourself with their contents, bestowing super strength and stamina as well as healing physical injuries (broken bones, etc.) Foster never makes use of them himself for Reasons, so if no one tries it, they're basically decorative. Notably, picking one of these syringes up will make you his target immediately.

Otherwise, Foster himself will not approach anyone holding medical paraphernalia--his medical records won't save you, but a stethoscope will.

Desired Boss Moves:

Control Freak- Summoning/animating undead versions of his original human self out of the hospital bed to serve as weaker mob spawns. Like Magitroika undead, they don't need any specific body parts to continue to function, so you can decapitate them or cut their arms off all you want without ill effect, but they don't have any special abilities otherwise. Because they're 'animated' rather than 'raised' (ie soulless) they also operate in a 'static' or mindless fashion, meaning all action is entirely at his direction. If you distract him sufficiently they'll just continue to follow whatever command he last willed them to. Max of two at a time, and each time he replaces one, he's reusing the same body. The more of them he has to re-re-reanimate, the less stable they are and the more perverted from their original appearance. Eventually he'll just have an uncontrolled abomination and have to stop because fuck that.

The Earth Will Overflow - The precondition for this involves him bleeding onto the floor in some way. The Earth Spirit from AU Portland (I'm so sorry) coalesces out of it as a massive bear-shaped apparition and wrecks anything in its path as it heads for the door. You can dodge it if you're willing to cram into a corner or dive into the MRI machine, but it can't be killed and it will just run you over if you try. Good news is, it also obliterates any Undead Fosters that happen to be active at the time.

It's All In Who You Know - Foster becomes increasingly covered in rot and fungi as he takes damage, but he can use his mushrooms to produce spores (I'm SO sorry) that will charm a single opponent briefly, effectively turning them to his side. Whether this counts as pure mental domination or his opponent just takes his side for a bit is up to the player. He can only perform this on one person at a time, and cannot do this when Undead Fosters are active. This will cause mushrooms to proliferate somewhere on the afflicted person's body (I'm SO... SORRY), which can be removed by others to remove his control. This can result in anything from him attacking others using his controlled victim to using his control over the victim to make them damage themself. (For clarity: depending on the player's permissions, this might just mean he runs the character into a wall repeatedly.)

It's Britney, Bitch! - All his bodily fluids (which... hopefully just means blood and spit and like... sebaceous fluids) are acidic, and will inflict burns of increasing severity in accordance to volume of blood/length of contact. That's it. That's his last line of defence. He's basically one of those bosses that tries to keep you from hitting him.... er, while encouraging you enthusiastically to hit him. Whatever.

[ideismo]

Player Name: Dal
Character Name/Journal: Alexei Dinoia | ideismo

Room Overview:
The room is circular and very large in size; the walls appear to be made of waterfalls, perpetually flowing down into a deep pool of water below. Four columns are protruding from the water, equidistant from each other around the room, each bearing a bright green crystal hovering atop them. The sky above seems bright, though a long way off over the top of the waterfalls; it's likely that it's not a proper sky, just a construct of the room designed to look that way, but it's pretty convincing. The "floor", as it were, is a few feet above the pool itself - a raised, narrow structure leading out onto a large, diamond-shaped platform.

Welcome to the Enduring Shrine of Zaude.

A pair of people are here with him, blank-eyed and seeming to have no true will of their own; they're simply standing very still and seem to be waiting for orders. Otherwise, the room is very open; it's clear of obstacles, but it's also clear of anything that you may find useful in a fight. Basically, you're on your own.

Desired Boss Moves:
Overlord Reign - At the start of the battle, Alexei will incite those blank-eyed people near him to assist him in the fight. The former, Schwann Oltorainn, is armed with a sword and is singlemindedly focused on defending Alexei at the cost of not seeming to care if he takes damage. The latter, Princess Estellise, is armed with a heavy white rod and a shield; she will only defend herself if attacked and generally will not fight you, and is instead going to be focused on using her (very limited) healing abilities on Alexei if he takes too much damage. They will not use any proper artes against you, however, and while they're certainly a nuisance they go down like well-trained but otherwise normal people if engaged.

Ancient Catastrophe - The four stones set up around the edges of the room glow brightly for a few brief seconds before firing off concentrated beams of light into the center of the room in a large cross pattern, damaging anything they manage to strike. The rays of light are thin and easily dodged, and the pattern is obvious, consistent, and easily predictable, and again, there's a warning beforehand.

Blast Heart - Upon coming in close contact with someone, Alexei will grab them, pull them close, and magically inscribe a glyph on their chest. The glyph will glow for several seconds before exploding, inflicting burn damage that will worsen gradually but continually over the course of battle until the target is eventually incapacitated. Requires the target to be within grabbing distance and unable to break free of him before he can finish what he's doing. Can be interrupted by way of breaking contact with him before he finishes or otherwise interrupting him somehow. Incapacitation takes a fairly long time to hit in its entirety; the inflicted burns can also be healed completely if someone in the room has a way to do that. The actual blast is non-fatal, just loud and bright and otherwise there for the mildly alarming aesthetic.

Brilliant Cataclysm - Alexei's sword, Dein Nomos, is filled with a large amount of energy and thrown at his nearest opponent; if not dodged, the hit will do mild damage. The sword will then be magically guided into striking the center of the room, where the strike radius spreads to cover most of the room and detonates upwards into columns of light that will deal moderate to heavy damage. It's not an instant fatality, and can be avoided by being closer to the edges of the room as opposed to the center when it hits. It requires an invocation to cast, it can be dodged, and he always calls the attack before the strike to the center of the room lands. Alexei is rendered unable to move or focus for several seconds after Brilliant Cataclysm is cast. If Schwann and Estelle are still active, they are also hit by the attack and will take double damage from it.

Brave Vesperia - The sky above seems to ripple, darkening in a hexagonal fractal pattern from a fixed point; the fractals spread quickly, enveloping the sky above and casting the room into a darkened state. As long as the darkness remains active, those attempting the fight will not be damaged, but will be struck with crippling fear; however, fear can be fought through, and the effect will be broken once someone manages to land a hit on Alexei directly. What constitutes a hit does not have to be conventional battle damage; you can slap him across the face and tell him to knock it off and that'll count. Cannot be activated while Schwann and Estelle are still standing. If one looks upward while the room is still darkened, it's possible to see some sort of black...mass that's shot through with strange purple energy up there, though it doesn't seem to have any defined features outside of that and it isn't approaching. It's just up there, being ominous.

did i name them all after vesperia mystic artes? yes. do any of them work like that? except for alexei's, absolutely not. do i care? nah.

TIM WRIGHT + THE DRIFTER + AGENT WASHINGTON

[postictal]

plot comment for my trio down here to get all my thoughts out at once :> at the moment i'm not anticipating any of them needing rejection rooms. however, if you need any of them to help yours out in a boss battle, just let me know!

TIMOTHY WRIGHT

⊗ SHADOW: So Tim has endured a shadow event once before back in sol, but his shadow then was just a wee baby child tim who acted kind of creepy but was ultimately more harmless. This Shadow will be digging a little bit deeper. Namely, it's going to be zeroing in on all of Tim's positive or neutral CR to make it crystal clear to each and every one of them that Tim is terrified of this inexplicable negative influence he has on them. In canon, the Operator's everything made generating positive relationships more or less impossible for Tim to maintain at all without them inevitably crumbling beneath either the Operator's pressure or Tim's own intensely self-destructive nature. His Shadow will disclose all of this, if given the chance: that Tim is responsible for the deaths of entirely too many people, that he's afraid he's only ever going to hurt the people he loves, and that despite how much better off he thinks they'd be without him, he's never had this many friends in his life before and doesn't want to lose that. Tim will probably be intent on hunting this asshole down and dealing with it as soon as possible. Whatever the cost.

⊗ LIGHT: And oh right all those people that Tim really gives a shit about. Tim's Light will be the first to admit to people that Tim has made more friends than he can ever remember having, and that while he's miserable at expressing how much he would give to keep them safe, he really does love them. His Light will be very, very up front about the fact that Tim wants to be better for the people he loves, and that he's trying to be a better person for them. And, oh yes - he does love them.

THE DRIFTER

♦ SHADOW: Most creepily of all, the Drifter's Shadow will be able to talk. They're going to be the Drifter's polar opposite in a lot of ways - much more prone to being talkative, more prone to being touchy and getting up in your personal space, and so on. They will be as blunt and direct as the Drifter typically is, however; namely, they'll be most vicious about the fact that the Drifter's uncertainty regarding the attachments they've made. The Drifter never meant to get attached, and now they are - and some part of them hates it for its unfamiliarity, for how inescapable it is, for how inadequate they feel in expressing anything to the people they've come to care about. The Drifter feels trapped and tied down - both by the manifold connections they've made, and their ineptitude in actually doing anything with them.

♦ LIGHT: ON THE FLIP SIDE, their Light will be the Drifter's every repressed "I care about you" sentiment that they've felt they cannot or should not express, due to a grim, locked-down warrior-type mentality that eschews emotional expression and considers it a vulnerability they can't afford to show. All their close cr? They can tell them all, directly, that they really heckin care about you! They might even.......u know, love u. and admit to that.

AGENT WASHINGTON

϶ SHADOW: Wash's Shadow will be extremely blasé about everything that Wash conspicuously never mentions to literally anyone. Getting Wash to crack open his history to just anyone is like pulling teeth, so his Shadow is going to focus on divulging that Wash has an intensely sketchy past and has not always been entirely compos mentis to just about anyone he can. He'll also be preying on Wash's sense of loss and helplessness when it comes to how many people he keeps losing, and how many times he's lost them - his fear of desensitization of that loss is an unadmitted thing that he's not even aware exists, and that his Shadow intends to take full advantage of.

϶ LIGHT: This guy will be a lot more like the Washington that existed before he became a husk of paranoia and mnemonic trauma. So: kind of dorky, earnest, and way more prone to friendly conversation. His Light will be all of Wash's kinder instincts ratcheted up to eleven. I confess I'm not entirely sure what to do with this guy since I have a way more fleshed out picture of the other two, but I'll mull it over some more!

additional plotting do not reply

[postictal]

in case of additional plans or changes etc.

THE KNIGHT

[lightlessfuture]

Haha oh boy.

SHADOW:

The Knight's fear and paranoia wound up into a travel-sized package. Regal, cold and emotionless, with none of their original's playfulness, curiosity or kindness, the Knight's Shadow will be a ruthless reflection of both the Pale King and what they could have been as the chosen vessel. Being a vessel is an inescapable fate, and being the only thing willing to take their father's sins means that in some way, they are like their father too. At their worst, they fear being a reflection of him, and resent him for haunting them even when he's long gone - and resent themselves for not being able to escape his influence, making their struggle ultimately worthless for expressing themselves.

The Knight's Shadow can talk, to an extent! It sounds like a distorted version of the Pale King's voice, but it can only mimic and 'play back' the words that other people say to it, or remix canon dialogue. So that'll be fun.

LIGHT:

On the other hand, the Knight's light side is more honest about what troubles them - there are some things they can never return to, and things they can't get back or change - but they're more honest about how it feels like an escape from responsibilities to be here, too. They're happy here, with the people they love, and they aren't afraid to show it.

Which, really, isn't that different from the Knight themselves, just a bit more openly affectionate about their pains and their feelings towards people without being caught up in them. Prog..ress?

[catpiper]

i want to do everything but I want her esp to gang up on the knight with their light and say nice things about them

The Guardian & Troupe Master Grimm

[fireindreams]

The Guardian

Shadow:

The Guardian will be receiving a joke shadow. Riffing on their lack of inclination to talk, the Guardian's shadow will be silent until they randomly blurts out something - and it may not necessarily be anything to do with the Guardian's personal troubles. They are very ineffective at getting at the root of the Guardian's issues, manly due to it being rather obvious to the drifter because of the previous month's event.

Truly, the hardest part of this will be not laughing oneself to death.

Light:

The Guardian's light side is better, on the other hand. More honest about how their family's death and their own death has affected them, the Guardian's light side will attempt to congratulate their real counterpart on completing their Trial and that perhaps one day the hurt that comes from the death of their family will heal, even if it is a little at a time. The Guardian's kindness will be more overt and will seek to also help those who may be feeling pain from their Shadow's words.


Troupe Master Grimm:

Shadow:

In Hollow Knight, what is often noticed about Grimm is that he is not at all like the Pale King or his sibling, the Radiance. He gives the Knight the choice of continuing the Ritual and explains everything upfront rather then hiding the truth or just simply forcing the Knight into doing what he wants. Even during the Banishment Ending Grimm never once interferes even when he clearly could. What he values, both as the Troupe Master and the God of Nightmares, is choice. He has seen what happens when there is no choice, after all. And he is afraid of what he could become without it.

Grimm's Shadow is exactly that, a God of Nightmares who gives no one choice and commands absolute obedience. Much like the Radiance, Grimm's Shadow will have little interest in speaking to others aside from his real counterpart and will fight those who attempt to intervene without his permission. He is the true embodiment of the title "Terror of Sleep" and is Grimm's fear of how terrible he could become without the desire to see others make their own choices in life.

Light:

Grimm's light side is less intense then his Shadow but comes with a far, far more difficult question. His light side will be more blunt then Grimm normally is, cutting down his flowery language for something more direct. But not in a negative way! While Grimm's light side will tell characters exactly how his real counterpart feels about them, he will focus more on characters' positive qualities and why Grimm finds them wonderful to be with.

But when speaking to the real Grimm, his light side will have a different question. There is one relationship that Grimm has not once spoken to others about and that is of his sister, the Radiance. Grimm's light side will attempt to draw answers out of Grimm regarding how he feels about her, both good and bad, and what caused the separation of the Dream and Nightmare realms. Unfortunately due to how sensitive the subject is, the light side will push too hard and cause Grimm to reject it, leading to a Rejection Room being formed for Grimm. Time for a boss battle.

[journalname]

SHADOW

Asgore's Shadow is going to be a dud! It's gonna be pretty obvious that he is not the real deal - he's bizarrely ripped and he's dyed his hair black because he's goffick - but boy howdy is he gonna try. He'll be running around shouting about how evil he is and challenging people to fights until he encounters Asgore. From then on, Asgore's just gonna try to keep a leash on him.

Even though the thing is ridiculous, a few of his comments are going to strike uncomfortably close to home. Asgore also thinks he's a bad person, after all. He may just end up quietly accepting it and getting it to leave like that. But on the bright side, this is all a little too silly and over-the-top for even him to take too seriously!

LIGHT

Asgore's Light is gonna be a little more difficult for him to deal with. He'll be far more honest about all the things Asgore's been keeping back - his loneliness, the things that happened in canon and in his last game, the conflict he's feeling between attending to his duties and caring for himself. As Asgore hasn't got a ton of close friends here, he'll probably be seeking out people like canonmates and...I guess anyone who's been nice to him even once?

I don't have a lot of plans for this one yet, admittedly. While Asgore won't be as accepting of it, I don't foresee things going so badly that there'd be a Rejection Room.

[vagabone]

f to yadda yadda

SHADOW

Héctor's shadow is going to be easy to figure out for anyone who's spoken to him longer than two seconds?? A miserable collection of complaints and bitterness and resentment and SPITE, everything he normally shoves deep deep down. He dislikes himself and also everything that's happened to him, as expected when it's 99% shitty and all kinds of no good. God forbid he actually... complain though... right? So he's not likely to want to welcome back all the things worth hating himself for.

LIGHT

Pretty easy to deal with. Some weird shambling goober who Likes People and generally thinks everyone is great for all the garbage they've had to deal with. The real Héctor won't have much trouble accepting this friendly guy, honestly. He sees nothing wrong with praising and loving on everyone!!

[ideismo]

SHADOW

Alexei's Shadow is...a bit of an experience, really. He's almost manic in demeanor and incredibly superior, almost jarringly blunt in his open disdain for people and his willingness to use anyone who crosses his path; despite the openness, however, he's incredibly cold, and it'll likely be obvious that his behavior stems from a complete lack of compassion towards anyone. He's not so much immoral as he is amoral; he won't go out of his way to commit crimes or anything, but he also won't be stopped from threatening or harming people if he deems them unnecessary or a detriment to him. If you're in the way of his confrontational with his original, then fighting will probably ensue.

...Alexei will have surprisingly little trouble accepting this because yes, yes, he knows, he's a terrible person so sit the fuck down, edgelord.


LIGHT

Meanwhile, his Light will be focused on his genuine love for his people and his world, as well as his desire to save everybo- ...yeahno he's not going to take this well because as far as he's concerned he failed in this endeavor and may have fucked his entire world over so off to the Rejection Room we go.

For those Jules is anonymously helping

[suspecteverything]

Apologies that I don't remember exactly which characters he's helping out, but I know he's bringing water to someone and medical supplies/possibly helpful materials to the clinic.

If any of the character involved would like to discover who is leaving these anonymous gifts, let me know. That's where I'm going to go with Jules' light half.

[savedbyasong]

Shion could find out as he's probably on Daggers list? And if Dagger needs help accepting his light Shion will definitely help!

kravitz + beau

[lesbeau]

Hehehe oh KAY FAM, both mine will be getting a real shadow so here we go

Kravitz: Kravitz' shadow will be concerned with one thing and one thing only- his duty. His shadow's mission is to highlight Kravitz' role that he holds so paramount, and to convince people that any humanity he truly has is a facade under the control of his goddess. He'll be merciless, without compassion, and generally a very stuffy asshole. He's also going to be getting the ability to melt his face right off again to a skeleton one because listen, it's metal as hell and well, pretty truthful that Kravitz isn't human back home. He's also going to pick a big blowout fight with Lup's shadow, which is likely how he'll be confronted and destroyed, but have you ever wanted to fight literal death? Now's your chance!

Meanwhile, his light will be very gentle and very open about how horrifyingly lonely he's been the majority of his existence. Kravitz died fairly young and has been doing his job solo the last thousand years, and part of what he's been holding in has been the thought that he's the only one who possibly can. His light is going to be telling everyone to please just hang out with this sad man, he doesn't know how to have friends but he's a great conversationalist. Kravitz will be very, very embarrassed, but with a number of events under his belt he's gained the knowledge that he does enjoy life better with other people in it, and be able to accept this.

Beau: Beau's shadow is... not too different from the way she projects herself, which says something and mostly that something is depression. Beau figures that people are always going to hate her, so at least by being awful, she can control how. Her shadow is going to take that up to 11, fighting, stealing, and being just the worst person you've ever met with the intention of making her CR realize this is already the Beau you know- nothing has changed, and nothing ever will.

Meanwhile, her light will still be abrasive- even Beau's good side is pushy, after all- but it'll be more like a freedom fighter than a bar brawler. Beau's light is a leader for the books, making sure that anyone who seems out of place is brought into the group, that everyone feels okay after a mission, and mostly, just how happy she is to finally have some friends after a long lonely childhood. Beau's light represents everything she wishes she could say without her emotional barriers, and how much vulnerability she actually craves. This, however, will absolutely horrify Beau, when she sees herself smiling and hugging all her friends. And because she is nothing if not stubborn, and throws herself against everything that says it knows her, she'll be getting her own hell dungeon. The details on her Rejection Room can be found here!

hit me up let's get some stuff GOIN yall

[lightlessfuture]

points to eyes points to you

points to kravitz

let's Do This

Lup

[hellawrath]

Shadow
Lup's Shadow is going to be the main event here. Because Lup's worst qualities (aggression, destructiveness, cruelty, self-isolation) consume her when she is separated from her bonds, her friends and family, that's going to be her Shadow's main goal. And it will try to achieve this by appearing in her lich form - a red-robed skeletal spectre of pure magical force. Surprise, Lup is actually undead and suuper out for destruction! It will be nerfed down to her regular LA limitations, but that still gives it plenty of power to be destructive. Plus it's incorporeal, so it's pretty hard to damage by anything that isn't holy magic.

The Shadow is going to be cruel and heartless to anyone it encounters, seeking to broadcast her "secret" and show everyone how much Lup delights in destruction. It will particularly focus on her closer CR, seeking to hurt and even kill them. Death is a possibility if anyone wants to actually go that far. It will culminate in trying to kill Taako, since he's one of her biggest anchors "holding her back" from fulfilling her true potential as a lich. There will also be a cool as hell show-down with Kravitz' Shadow!


Light
Lup's Light is going to be very similar to real Lup, since she's already pretty awesome y'all. Warm, affectionate, optimistic and looking out for everyone. However, it will seek to tell people that Lup.... is exhausted. Disheartened, even. After a year and a half here being no closer to figuring out how to get home, she is real afraid that they're at the beginning of another century of endless cycles of suffering and hardships for everyone she cares about, when they were so so close to finally winning it in their home reality. Her Light is going to be open about how much this is weighing on her and that she needs people to help her get through this.

It's not going to be easy for real Lup to accept being called out on that, especially after having had to face her potential future as an insane lich, but she won't need a Rejection Room. I don't have any solid plans for her Light yet, so hit me up if you want it anywhere! I really would like something good for Lup to come out of this.

Doctor Faust - Yin and Yang

[wanderingdoctorfaust]

Shadow Faust:
Having only very recently arrived on the island, Faust's Shadow is tragically incomplete and misrepresents most of the good doctor's actual darkness.

Donning a Hot Topic bag and a giant trench coat, this exaggeration of the good doctor has taken to accosting the denizens of Ensō with malicious rumours of malpractice and scandalous deals behind closed doors! Clearly Doctor Faust is an irredeemable scumbag who should have lost his medical license decades ago!
And yet, it's rather strange how every single accusation is outlandish and exaggerated to almost comedic proportions: It's as if this Dud Shadow is incapable of making up any claims that are not blatantly falsified and exaggerated.

Light Faust:
The good doctor's light, on the other hand, has achieved wholeness...though it also has its own share of strangeness.

Completely nude, if not for the still ever-present bag and a thick beard that does a suspiciously good job of censoring his waist region. Because apparently clothes are not worn by good people.
This benevolent entity has taken to wandering the island looking for others to strike up conversation with - it wishes to sing the praises not of Doctor Faust per se, but of his actions. With the voice of a wise elder, it regales tales of compassion and humanity that the good doctor has played an active role in.
Its ultimate goal? To confront the good doctor and offer him that same compassion he has given to others over the decades.

[bitch4bitch]

ERIKA

Shadow Erika is pretty sure that the single best and most efficient way to get anything done is through intimidation and sheer force - whether that’s force of personality or straight-up violence. As such, her approach to just about everything will be a lot like that of a goddamn freight train, but if freight trains carried knives on them at all times. Pushback will just result in her pushing harder, and there’s a good chance of things getting violent fast.

Light Erika is… honestly a surprisingly chill person to be around? She can still be pretty irreverent and sort of bossy, but she’s a lot less inclined to aggressively escalate conflicts, and is a lot more openly invested in just hanging out with people she likes and having a good time and making sure they know they’re appreciated. She doesn’t really feel much of a need to use aggression unless it becomes necessary, which… original Erika will probably not appreciate.

GINKO

So, fun thing about Ginko: When he was a kid, he was, at various points, taken in by various con artists who used him as a tool to con more people and make more money. As such, he was taught at an early age that self-preservation is all that matters, and ended up with an intensely nihilistic and cynical worldview paired with some pretty severe depression. Since then, he has worked through to a point where he has a rather more charitable view of people and the world around him (still depressed and kind of nihilistic, though it’s a pretty chill form of nihilism now?), but those early lessons are still a part of him, albeit a part that he has done his best to leave behind.

Shadow Ginko absolutely fucking refuses to leave any of that behind. If you ever for some reason wanted to meet Ginko, but without any of the abiding faith in humanity(/other sapient beings) or concern for others or like… any sense of ethics, but all of the manipulative or selfish impulses that he generally does his best to stamp down, uh. Here he is.

Shadow Ginko is a manipulative, rude, potentially self-destructive asshole who figures that that’s basically fine, because everyone is out for themself anyway and none of it matters. It’s not good.

Light Ginko, on the other hand, mostly poses the risk of being really fucking embarrassing to interact with because holy shit did you know Ginko has a lot of feelings about a lot of people and concepts that he’s just been sitting on all this time? Because he sure does, and his light half has no interest in hiding them.

Basically, while it will probably come up the most in interactions with people he’s got CR with to begin with, Light Ginko will be pretty quick to comment on whatever good qualities he notices in people, without so much of the measuring and filtering of his responses that he usually goes through. Still a little bit probably, but, you know. Less.